Attempts to denigrate critics with the accusation of ‘conspiracy theory’ are growing. Not that it is an unknown tactic; in fact it is time honoured. The usual best response is to air out the facts. But today, with ‘facts’ competing with ‘alternative facts’, as in Trump’s America for example, that is not as easy as it used to be which encourages greater use of accusations of conspiracy theory.

‘Alternative facts’ in today’s politics are usually ‘old facts’ which have been replaced by new ‘facts’(e.g. the new scientific fact of the ‘inconvenient truth of climate change’). Our time of fundamental and fast change is especially challenging. Accusations of ‘conspiracy theory’ are becoming more desperately required to preserve out of date ‘alternative facts’. Accusations tossed at the Hager/Stevenson book about an SAS incident in Afghanistan, Hit and Run, must be viewed in this larger context.